21c Museum Hotels announced plans Tuesday to sell 85 percent of its brand and hotel management — worth $51 million — in a move that could eventually expand the Louisville-based hotel and contemporary art concept abroad.

Under the new agreement, the chain will join AccorHotels, which offers travel experiences in 4,500 hotels, resorts and residences across 100 different countries. The eight 21c hotels and three others in development will be part of AccorHotels' MGallery collection, but the properties won't undergo a name change.

21c founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson will retain 15 percent of the brand along with the hotel real estate and their art in this deal. The husband-and-wife team will remain closely involved in curating the art, design and hospitality aspects of their hotels.

"It’s going to give us the efficiency of their size and their expertise," Wilson told the Courier Journal in an interview Tuesday. "It’s just going to be a completely different world for us."

21c Museum Hotels will continue to be led by President and CEO Craig Greenberg and the boutique chain's corporate headquarters will remain in Louisville.

"It’s been great to be able to use art as a catalyst for commerce and revitalization of downtown," Wilson said. "We’re just Kentucky people that love, love Kentucky and Louisville has been famous for a mecca of entrepreneurial spirit, and we want to stay at home."

Brown and Wilson have been welcoming Louisville residents and visitors to their flagship museum and hotel mashup on West Main Street for more than a decade.

It was a risky idea, Wilson said, but it caught on and grew to eight hotels in 11 years. He was a farmer before he and his wife founded the boutique hotel chain. He often jokes it's easy to break rules and beat the odds when you don't know what they are, he said.

Now he's 70 years old, and he's well aware of both his age and the chain's potential.

Teaming up with AccorHotels was a solid fit and an opportunity to keep growing.

It's hard to know how quickly that growth might happen, Wilson said, but with the chain's resources and presence overseas, it'll happen much quicker than it would have alone.

"I think the American spirit is very much a part of who we are, and I’m excited about the idea of bringing this concept to other countries," Wilson said.

AccorHotels' MGallery brand currently has locations in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Paris and Sydney, but the 21c properties will be its first step into the North American market.

“We are delighted to welcome 21c Museum Hotels as part of the AccorHotels family of brands, hence strengthening the group’s footprint in North America in a very unique and promising niche," Kevin Frid, chief operating officer of AccorHotels in North and Central America, said in a statement.

Beyond the 21c chain, Brown and Wilson have also has spent substantial time and resources transforming the historic Hermitage Farm in Oldham County into a tourist destination with a restaurant, visitors center and art walk.

They purchased the farm in 2010 and announced in 2016 that they planned to turn the property into a tourist destination.

The goal of the $15 million project, Wilson said, is to put visitors back in touch with the land, teaching them where food comes from, how grains are used to make bourbon and how horses are bred to create the beasts they see pounding the dirt at Churchill Downs.

City Living reporter Maggie Menderski covers retail, restaurants and development in downtown and its nearby urban neighborhoods. Reach Maggie at 502-582-7137 or cityliving@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MaggieMenderski. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/maggiem.